Seven Miles From The Sun
by Mistress Reigns
Summary: The idea was simple: Force some people into a stable, put a big UK stamp on them, and just hope everything works out for the best. When Wade Barrett, Drew McIntyre, Adrian Neville, and Paige are forced into a stable with William Regal as their manager, they must learn to become a team so they can win and keep their championships.
1. Adrian

_**Swept Away By The Tide**_

_This is what I get for my hard work,_ Adrian thinks. _I don't know how to feel about this._

He sits quietly in the conference room, listening to Hunter lay down the specifics of what he wants to see from this stable. Sandwiched between Wade and Drew, Adrian feels even smaller than his five-ten height and wants to sink down in his chair so he can hide. Not very professional of him, but he's terrified at the idea of being in a stable with any of the people in this room minus Paige. Paige, he knows. Paige, he is familiar with. But Wade and Drew are a little more mystical even if Wade has just really bounced back and Drew is a glorified jobber. From what Hunter is saying, that won't be going on much longer, though. His plans sound ridiculous, a little higher and a little more farfetched than any of them can achieve. But finally, a few of the choices made in the company thus far make sense where from Adrian's vantage point, they never did.

Now, Adrian understands why Wade was catapulted to such success as Bad News Barrett and given the Intercontinental Championship to wear around his waist like an ill-gotten prize.

Now, Adrian sees why Paige was elevated to the main roster so quickly and why it was decided the Divas Championship would be rewarded to her instead of to Naomi, whom seemed a shoo-in.

Now, Adrian can forgive JBL for pushing him into a "win or go home" match against Tyler that forced him to drop his NXT Championship far too soon for his liking and get pushed to _Raw._

But just because all of the pieces are finally in place doesn't mean he's okay with any of it.

William Regal sits on the far side of the table, studying Hunter and no doubt listening to all of his words with that careful focus he possess. Considering the four British wrestlers in the company are being repackaged as a stable, it only makes sense to have Regal come in as their manager. No one else can possibly do them a better service as a manager, and Adrian feels stupidly proud for at least earning his place in this stable so he can work closer with Regal.

And there are plans to set him and Drew up for the Tag Team Championships. That is nice to hear, at least, and he's happy he won't simply be thrown in for the fact he has trunks with the British flag on them and a nice accent to go along with it all. That would be a personal insult.

"Is all of that perfectly clear?" Hunter asks, and all of them chorus together saying that it was even though Adrian didn't listen to ninety percent of what the big man said. "Good. Go on now."

Regal rises from his seat and waves for them to follow him; Adrian is quick to scamper out of his chair and follow behind the older man, not missing the chuckles from Wade and Drew as they rise more gracefully and follow as well. Funny, he's the one who's supposed to be light.

The fact no one talks as they head for their new locker room is a bit addling, but Adrian just keeps his mouth shut and glances over at Drew in silent consideration. Playing tag team partner to the bigger man isn't going to be as hard as it would be with anyone else his size. Drew is six-six but wrestles like a smaller guy, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to make a good partner for him. Their skill set isn't so different. This will work just fine.

Drew catches him watching and grins, nudging him lightly in the ribs with his elbow. "Welcome to the main roster, Neville. Ready to make the fans believe in the UK?"

"Sure," Adrian says, which earns a weird duo of laughter from Wade and Drew that doesn't make sense to him. But he doesn't chase it down. For now, he's just going to go along with the flow because he doesn't have any more options available to him. _Typical._

* * *

**_A/N: Welcome to the British Stable for lack of a better name right now. What's that you say? Drew McIntyre was released from his WWE contract on Thursday? NO. Well, this is as good a place as any to say I will continue to write my fanfiction as if that never happened because fuck the WWE. Drew was amazing. So was Jinder. 3MB forever._**

**_These chapters will all be pretty short, around seven hundred words each. Layla will show up when I debut the new Championships so don't you worry. I have not forgotten her._**


	2. Wade

_**I Don't Know Where We're Going**_

"What exactly is going on, William?" Now that they're away from the others and Wade has his new manager all to himself, he's damn sure going to figure out what the fuck is suddenly going on. "Why us four? Why are they doing this now with all this USA pride bullshit going on?"

"I have no idea. Hunter sprang this all on me at once. I imagine poor Neville's shell-shocked, having just dropped his title." Regal's face softens and Wade winces in sympathy for the kid.

He wants to stamp _Not Ready_ all over Adrian and send him back to NXT before something horrible happens to him on the main roster. Poor baby. "They had no right to do that to him."

"They Authority can unfortunately do whatever they want," Regal mutters, dropping onto one of the wooden benches and scrubbing his hands over his face. "Just like throwing this together."

"There's no chemistry between him and Drew. _I_ am Drew's former tag team partner. Adrian's never wrestled with him before," Wade adds, sitting opposite Regal and sighing.

Regal's silent for a moment, seeming to consider before looking up at him. "Well, Drew has plenty of experience in tag teams, so I imagine he can teach Adrian what he needs to know. You yourself said Adrian was the future of this company, as well as Paige. Here's your vision."

"This was _not_ my vision," Wade snaps. "I said _future,_ not _present._ I know my own words."

"Well, the future is _now_ and Adrian and Paige are going to need all the help you can give them. I'm not worried about you or Drew. Let's focus on our rookies," Regal says, and Wade nods.

The rest of their stable is waiting outside of the locker room. Paige is leaning against a wall on her phone, seeming not to pay attention to anything in particular other than the screen. Drew pushes himself off of the wall as soon as Wade steps through the doorway and it's common sense to offer him an arm that he quickly wraps around his shoulders; they have a very PDA friendship. Poor Adrian is just standing off on his own, looking down the opposite hallway.

Wade feels a not uncommon burst of panic, one that resembles how he felt when the company came down on him to lead the Nexus and then the Corre. Lead a _stable_ when he was just joining the company? What a goddamn laugh. But now he has that experience and this stable will be united on all levels as opposed to just being a collection of random wrestlers that don't fit together as well as people seemed to think in the beginning. Paige is a hell of a brawler and her strength is impressive. Wade, of course, is also a brawler; they can have some killer mixed matches. Drew is a weird combination of strength and grace that'll work to their advantage in the long run, and Adrian is a high flier through and through. All he needs to do is get up on the ropes and he'll do just fine. And at least he worked in tag teams in NXT for a bit.

But he looks green and that more than anything is why Wade cuffs the back of his neck and drags him over against his side, roughly ruffling his hair. "You need to relax. Making a main roster debut with us behind you is going to be a hell of a push. You'll go over so fast, Neville."

"We'll make damn sure of it," Drew adds, reaching around to clap Adrian so hard on the shoulder he stumbles forward a little. Wade lets it go. It is Drew, after all.

"If you say so," Adrian mumbles, and no. That shy attitude is not going to work at all. He has to be loud and brass for this to work. Wade will settle for no less than perfection.

But they have time. They have a few weeks to plan out everything they need to accomplish in the impossibly short amount of time they have. He would've preferred four weeks to three, but three will just have to do for now.

* * *

_**A/N: Just a little glimpse into Wade and how he kind of sees Adrian as not ready for this.**_


	3. Drew

_**Things Just Get So Crazy**_

"That's just fucking insane," Heath says, and Drew grunts in agreement as he lowers himself onto the edge of his bed in their shared hotel room; it feels weird without Jinder here. But they've been forced to get used to this reality just as sure as Drew will have to get used to this British stable idea. "You're supposed to go from Scottish rockstar to, what, Tag Team Champion material? With _Adrian Neville?_ Hunter has lost his goddamn mind, Drew."

"He lost it years ago and now we're all going to suffer for it." Drew chews on his lower lip, not sure how to feel about any of this as he falls back on his mattress. He should have known this was going to happen when he met with Hunter about his contract coming up.

_"You can stay. I have every intention of keeping you."_ Hunter had smiled like a Cheshire cat as he pushed the new contract across the desk to Drew, offering him a pen. _"I have big plans for you, McIntyre. Bigger than the Chosen One gimmick. Way bigger than 3MB. You're going to carry gold in this company before the end of the year. Just sign the papers."_

This is what he gets for making a deal with the devil. And the devil never fails to get what he wants, which is why _you never fucking deal with him, Drew, you idiot._

Working with Wade again is nice, and Drew wishes Wade was the one he was joining with to form this tag team. If not for the Intercontinental Championship wrapped around his waist during his entrances, it probably would be the two of them once again. But things have changed.

He sighs again, feeling the bed dip when Heath flops down next to him. "It's not even that Neville is a bad wrestler because he's not. Awkward during promos maybe, but a solid enough wrestler and we just won't let him talk for a few weeks until he gets better or something."

"What is it, then?" Heath asks softly, fingers coming to curl in Drew's hair.

"It's that it's so _sudden._ We're not even getting a storyline build-up. Just the five most prominent British wrestlers in the company shoved together. Supposedly, Regal's going to get fed up with NXT and come here with Neville, and then he'll bring us together." Drew shrugs, having not listened as well as he maybe should have at the big meeting.

Heath hums and nods, fingers drifting from Drew's hair to trace lazy circles on the side of his neck. It's not even anything but Heath's normal platonic friendship, something he does quite a bit because he just likes to touch people. Drew likes to be touched; he and Wade, and he and Sheamus, are all rather touchy guys and it never really much bothered him. It'll be interesting to see how Adrian deals with that because if they're going to be a cohesive team, they'll have to become friends, and that will entail Drew and Wade touching the guy a lot.

"I'm gonna miss 3MB, man," Heath says suddenly. "I mean, like, we were a joke, but I mean, we still had people who cared about us and I really, _really_ liked being with you guys."

Neither of them say anything after that, just lie there and look at each other, pale blue eyes meeting dark brown as the truth slowly swirls between them. Jinder never signed a new contract, but because he didn't want to talk about it, neither Drew nor Heath know if he was offered a new one in the first place. If he was released or if he quit. The company stamps _release_ on damn near everything and it's just… It would be better if they knew the truth, but they don't. They have no idea if they have the right to feel abandoned.

Drew is _not_ going to abandon his new stable mates. It's the least he can do for them. Maybe, just maybe, they can find a way to make this insanity work out. Or maybe it will crumple.

Either way, he'll see it to the end.


	4. Paige

_**Not Welcome Back**_

Paige is squeezed in next to Emma on the bus, texting Bayley about Hunter's new idea and trying to ignore the eyes on her. As soon as she announced the British stable idea to the other Divas she shares a bus with, there had been some confusion and some downright unhappiness from the Divas who had been in the company longer and felt it was their right to be considered for such a big project. Never mind none of them but Layla was British, and _she_ was too busy in her storyline with Fandango to take on another project at the same time.

She will be joining them eventually, though. That's what Paige is less than excited about. Well, correction: She's excited about getting to work with Layla and even more excited about the new championships that will be unveiled, but that also means making a sacrifice.

"You're awfully quiet tonight," Emma muses, lightly nudging her in the side.

"Can't really help it." Paige sets her phone down to wait for Bayley's reply, combing her fingers through her hair to keep it back out of her face. "It's just a lot to take in."

Emma nods even though they both know she doesn't really understand; this level of pressure hasn't been put on her quite as heavily just yet. "But working with Regal and Barrett will be good. And McIntyre. They've been here for _years._ You'll learn so much."

"I just wish I had more time to learn what I have to learn," Paige murmurs.

She has a skill level to work with and Hunter made a point to acknowledge that in his presentation, but he still wants her to get to the next level as soon as possible. When the time comes, she needs to be ready to work in two different tag teams. It's maddening.

And the two people she will have to learn to work with? Could not be more different. But Emma is right. She has good teachers and this might just work out okay as a result of that.

"You're good at this, Paige. Better than most of the girls in this business," Emma says confidently. "No matter how bad the company tries to make you look, you're so _good,_ you're going to get the hang of it in no time. I have total faith in you."

Paige smiles in thanks and plays with a slit in the thigh of her jeans, tugging the little loose strands idly as she flashes back on Hunter's words. She will get to be part of _two_ historical shifts, bringing in titles they previously disposed of, and the return of the singles title is pretty extreme as far as she is concerned. But it's all so _perfect_ when it comes to their stable and if everything falls into place as it should and the fan reaction is what it needs to be, this might just work.

They just have so much to do. Elevating Wade just a little higher, dragging Drew out of the hole the company has stomped him into, preparing Adrian for seriously imperative matches, and she has to up her tag team skills considerably. Gone are her short matches; she'll have to wrestle for longer periods of time—_thank God—_and as the main event on _Raw_ and _SmackDown_ her share of times. A lot of pressure, a lot of work, and hopefully a massive payoff in the end.

So much work to do, so little time. Not to mention all the title matches she and Wade will have to fit in during the schedule in along the way. The fact she'll be facing Alicia a few more times is a little ludicrous, because they've had _plenty_ of matches and a loss at a pay-per-view should have ended the feud when it didn't. Ridiculous. Management is starting to make strange choices _again._

"So, are you and Adrian done on NXT permanently then?" Emma asks after a moment.

Paige nods slowly and looks over at her. "Unfortunately, yes. Adrian can't go back. And I'm not going to be able to go back."

Funny, how that hurts a little more than it should.


	5. William

_**Friendly Conversations**_

_"You are fucking _kidding _me. Please say you're fucking kidding me."_ Those are the first words out of Dean Ambrose's mouth and William is hardly surprised. The boy has a nastier mouth on him than most, and the situation certainly warrants for some shock. _"You know, I know Hunter makes some weird choices and they usually pay off in the end, but he's having you guys shoulder literally _everything. _Just so he can blame _you_ if it all goes wrong."_

"I'm aware of that, Dean. I still have to do my job," William reminds him patiently.

Dean scoffs and William smiles fondly. Befriending the younger man during their feud in FCW is still one of the best decisions he has ever made. _"This is fucking bullshit. Fucking Hunter."_

"With any luck whatsoever, we can do it, dear boy." Though William wonders. Had he been handed only Wade, Paige, and Adrian, his chances of success might have been surer. Drew makes this all rocky ground. "Assuming we can build McIntyre back up after the assault."

_"Which assault is that? The one with his wife or the beat down Roman and I issued during _Raw _and Roman during _SmackDown?" Dean asks, voice carrying a hint of amusement.

William winces and shifts his phone from one ear to the other; talking on the phone whilst driving is bad, but he doesn't have another option right now. "Both. It's a very deep hole to dig him out of, but I think we can do it. Staring when he turns on Heath Slater."

Dean barks laughter into the phone. _"What they fuck are you going to work with? Two heel vets and two babyface rookies? That shit is going to confuse the fans so much."_

"Now, that I doubt." William stops at a red light, sighing softly as he runs over his options once again. "They already cheer on Wade. That isn't a concern; he's a heel whose booking has been abominable and the fans love his gimmick too much to truly hate him. And I think I can turn Paige and Adrian heel if absolutely necessary. At least, I hope I can."

There's a natural silence between the two of them that occurs and William tries to guess the course of Dean's thoughts. Over the years, he has accepted that Dean is nigh unreadable and largely gives up trying to do it except on rare occasions such as this. It's one of the first times since their rivalry that he has admitted he's not convinced he can do something. When he was wrestling Dean in the first place, he had a few insecure moments because Dean is so young, Dean is so accomplished, and William has by and large left the ring behind.

Dean is the one who restored his confidence in himself and now it's starting to slip again; part of him hopes that Dean can restore it once again. Of course, Dean isn't a bad person to talk to about this. The Shield is arguably one of the most popular stables in WWE history and even with Seth Rollins no longer a part of the group, Dean and Roman are still attracting incredible adoration.

A burst of metal makes William flinch away from the phone, followed by Dean's voice once again. _"Seth, turn the goddamn music down before I beat your fucking face in. Jesus Christ, I am on the fucking phone and you pull that shit? Turn it down!"_

"Good to see your friendship outlasted that incident with the chair," William says dryly when the music lowers to the point where he cannot hear it anymore.

_"Yeah, well, nothing's really gonna break us up, you know? Hunter just wants it to look that way. Not a bad idea. Seth's getting great heat."_ Dean hums softly. _"If you wanna talk more, I'll text you where we're staying when we get there. You can come to our room and we'll all hash out some ideas. We were pretty good as heels, too."_

William sighs softly. "Thank you, Dean."

Not that he's looking forward to Seth's horrid taste in music, though.

* * *

_**A/N: So I have gotten all of the point of views down thus far... At least up until Layla shows up, in which case I'll be shifting to six but not quite yet. So, what are your guys' thoughts so far? I for one can't wait to get the heart of this.**_


	6. Adrian 2

_**Final Goodbyes**_

"They can't take you!" Tyler is clinging to him and Adrian just sighs, trying to shake off the slightly taller man with no success. Not that it's easy to stop Prince Pretty from his dramatics in _or_ out of the ring. "They can't take you, Adrian. I won't let them. They're not taking you away from NXT. You can't leave me here all alone with Sami. It isn't fair!"

"I am standing right here," Sami mutters, rolling his eyes and heaving a sigh.

Tyler's arms tighten impossibly and Adrian struggles to breathe. "No one asked you, Zayn."

"You insulted me, though." Sami narrows his eyes at the new NXT Champion. "And I—"

Adrian holds up a hand and Sami stops, biting his lip before nodding and letting Tyler continue his hysterics. They've just had a dynamite rematch and Adrian has truly lost his title to Breezy like Hunter told him he would have to. Tonight is his last night on NXT, as well as Paige's last night, and he has no idea how to feel about it. Right now, he's numb and tired, sweaty and exhausted from a highly athletic match and he just hopes the fans are satisfied with his final bout here. The NXT tapings are over for this month, and tomorrow morning he has to board a plane and meet up with the main roster so Regal can start arranging him and his new teammates into a cohesive unit. All Adrian can really do is continue to remind himself that Wade and Drew have stable experience to bring to the table and he and Paige will always give their all.

"I don't really have a choice here, Breezy. Hunter made it perfectly clear it's time for me to move up. It'll be a good opportunity," Adrian says, his voice oddly hollow and empty.

Tyler shakes his head vehemently. "No! I thought you getting to come back for the rematch meant you got to stay. That they were going to turn the stipulation around or something."

"It was just for the rematch. Hunter forgot all champions are guaranteed one." Adrian tries to squirm free and Tyler clings even more fiercely. "You've got to let me go, pretty boy."

"I am _not_ letting you go, Neville. You're not leaving NXT." Tyler suddenly shrieks and someone manages to pry him off. Rolling the stiffness out of his body, Adrian glances over his shoulder to find Konnor towering over him and holding Tyler firmly by the wrists, one dark brow raised.

He moves Tyler away about two feet and sends him a warning glance that makes the model shrink back slightly before turning back to Adrian. "Good luck on the main roster, Neville."

Adrian nods, watching the hulking man exit the room to join Viktor at the door, the two of them immediately whispering to one another. As far as Adrian knows, the Ascension is slated to move up to the main roster soon as well. Maybe they're just trying to smooth things out now so that they'll have each other's backs when it's time to perform for crowds every night. Hell, now that Adrian thinks about it, he's never had to deal with constant pressure like that. _Fuck me._

"How are you feeling about this stable idea?" Sami asks, and Adrian glances over at him to see Tyler now clinging to the bearded man, obviously too intimidated to make a go at Adrian again. "Word got around to us that you and Paige were going to be in a British stable thing now."

Adrian chews on his lip, not sure how to word his feelings on it and deciding to just settle for the honest truth since Tyler and Sami know him so well. "I'm fucking terrified. It's Wade Barrett and Drew McIntyre. At this point, I'm not entirely sure it's going to work out or that I'm not going to botch it somewhere along the line and get myself in trouble."

"Then stay here," Tyler whines at him.

"I would if I could." Adrian steps forward and hugs them both. "But I can't. I'm sorry. I have to go even if I don't want to."

* * *

**_A/N: So I really wanted to thank you guys for the massive amount of support this story has received. It's far more than I ever expected and I am truly humbled by this. I started it thinking it would be a fun little thing to do on the side considering a UK stable is so often discussed by fans because of the wrestlers we have. My only regret is that we no longer have Kenneth Cameron—but damn do Bram and Magnus make a good team. Most of you probably don't watch TNA on a regular basis but that is where Kenneth Cameron is now._**

**_That being said, to answer the question I've been asked more than once: Sheamus will not be in the stable. This is because of a very simple reason: Sheamus is not from the United Kingdom. Sheamus is from Ireland. Simple as that._**

**_And now I leave you with a pair of questions:_**

**_What do you think the name of the stable will be?_**

**_Do you think the stable will go after Sheamus's United States Championship, or do they have more intricate plans for the Celtic Warrior?_**


	7. Wade 2

_**Chapter Seven**_

If Wade is drinking, it's not his fault. If the last few weeks have been a roller coaster of a ride and he's been inadvertently turned face and he's lost his bloody championship to the Miz of all people, it's not his fault. And it's not his fault that Adrian is coming to meet them tomorrow.

Now everyone in the bloody stable is on the same level, and whether that's fair or not, he doesn't give a flying fuck. All he cares about is that he is so, _so_ screwed. And it's happening a third time.

At least he's not alone; Fandango is strewn across his couch, squinting to try to make the TV come into better focus because he's likely drunk too much for it to be in natural focus anymore. His career hasn't been heading in a decent direction either. In fact, it's nose-dived so beautifully that Wade is utterly shocked and disappointed in Creative. But that's not new to him. He's seen them fuck things up before, and as far as he's concerned, this is just more of their incontinence.

He misses his belt. He misses when life made sense. Drew misses being in 3MB; the sudden and harsh break-up following the assault by Roman Reigns that also led to Heath's new face turn and that incorrigible Slater and the Gator shit has jarred him badly. Paige, he knows, misses her belt. The sudden and abrupt shift to having AJ regain her title in her return to the WWE after leaving to get married has shaken up the Divas division and not in a positive way as far as Wade is concerned. _Battleground_ was an utter disaster. Mike botched half of their match—not new from him—and Paige and AJ's match was sloppy because AJ does have a bit of ring rust going on.

"I hate this," he says to the ceiling. He's on the floor, on his back, and is momentarily out of beer if only because he finished his and is too lazy to go to the refrigerator for another one. "Make it stop. Go back in time, get my belt, get Paige's belt, and kick Hunter in the balls."

Fandango grunts and Wade can't blame him. If anyone deserves to kick Hunter in the balls, it's the poor guy who had to come out dancing with Hornswoggle. Jesus fucking Christ, are the mid-card writers on meth now? "No. You go back in time and tell me to not agree to this stupid storyline with Summer and Layla. Tell me to find one partner and just stick with her."

"Maybe I'll go back in time and tell myself not to agree to the Nexus so that I was never a stable leader and they can never think to put me in one." Not a terrible idea, and it's not like his days in Nexus led to anything but being buried by John Cena anyway. The Corre? He'd rather just not.

He's going to be hung-over in the morning and William is going to be pissed, but Wade can't even bring himself to be upset that he'll make one of the most incredible wrestlers in the company angry with him for being unprofessional. None of that matters to him because tomorrow morning, Adrian and William are flying up so they can work on team dynamics. At least Hunter pushed back their debut to make sure everything would be ready for them.

Wade can almost admire him for that, really. Almost admire him for realizing the storylines were clogging the air so much and that a debut after _SummerSlam_ was more ideal than before considering how much ground Wade and Paige needed to cover. But they had that yanked out from under them, along with their belts, and Wade honestly hates everyone right now. He wants his belt back. He wants to keep his career as a lone wolf. And he doesn't want to work this program Hunter has decided to fix up between him and Sheamus.

The pay-off better be huge. Or Wade will walk right out of this company without looking back. He can and he will, damn it.

* * *

**_A/N: Time skips to catch up more with the present. Going to be fun trying to push poor baby Adrian into a heel stable considering he's a very lovely face character. But I have faith in Addy and you should have faith in him as well. And thanks for the random troll song lyric comment because I didn't know all of the words to "#MmmGorgeous" and now I do, so it all worked out in the end._**


	8. Drew 2

_**Chapter Eight**_

Drew exhales heavily enough to make the strands of hair in front of his face lift off of it, scowling when they fall back into place a few minutes later. He's up early because he and Wade are waiting for Adrian's flight when he'd much rather be back in his hotel room, curled up in bed and trying to get a wink or two of sleep. The fact he's been sharing a hotel room with Wade the last few weeks has certainly made things interesting for the both of them. He had a match last night—that he'd lost—so that Wade could come out and make it look like they'd allied up.

Now, they just have to wait for their tiny little Geordie—his new partner—to show up.

"Oy, this flight is taking for-fucking-ever," Wade announces for the third time since they joined the crowd of people waiting to pick someone up. "Good thing Neville is definitely worth it."

"Just as long as this means I get a run with a belt, I'm going to be a happy person," Drew says.

Wade leans over and pats him on the knee. "You will, Drew. It's all in the plans."

"Like they don't fucking change those plans while the goddamn show is air—Oh, look. It's Addy." Drew points to a small figure in the crowd, smirking when Wade squints to make sure.

There is no mistaking Adrian Neville, though. Drew's heard the Dwarf jokes before, and the jokes about the big ears, and he's heard Tyler Breeze complain about Adrian's awful hair more than once, so it's not like he's going to miss him. In one of those polo shirts that never quite fits him right and a pair of khaki shorts, Adrian is smaller than almost everyone around him except for those who qualify as children and a few scattered women. It's funny because Drew's never thought of himself as particularly tall, especially not in WWE where men typically run six-three and up, but Adrian is so small that Drew's going to look like a giant next to him.

At the same time, he feels a pang in his chest when he sees how lost their little Addy looks as he searches the crowd for them, his hands gripping the duffel strap across his chest nervously. This isn't territory he's familiar with on a normal basis beyond a few dark matches, and now he's going to be dragged into the spotlight far sooner than the plan was because of a whim. And it makes Drew irrationally angry because it's going to jeopardize Adrian's career, as well as Paige's, and he doesn't even want to _think_ about what might happen to him or to Wade.

Wade flags Adrian down, and the moment the small Geordie spots them, he hurries over with his head down in what is possibly the saddest and most adorable way possible. Drew drags him into a hug out of habit and because Heath's stupid affectionate streak has rubbed off on him after so many days spent watching Heath hug and cuddle up to every available and willing person.

"Nice to see you got here all in one piece," Wade says, giving Adrian's ponytail a playful tug.

Adrian makes a noise and straightens, rubbing his eyes. "I'm bloody exhausted, though."

Yes, because Hunter put him on a stupidly late flight instead of just letting him get a normal flight on a normal fucking day because Hunter is a fucking asshole. Jesus, Drew needs a stress ball or fifteen to squeeze. "Let's get you back to the hotel and you can take a nap. Our debut details can be worked out after you've had enough time to get some actual rest."

Wade hums in agreement. "That works for me. You're on tonight, and we want you at your absolute best, and we're going to make sure you're ready for it. Do you need us to stop anywhere, or can we just take you back to the hotel? You can borrow my bed for your nap."

Adrian shakes his head. "No. Just get me to a bed. Please."

* * *

**_A/N: I love Adrian to death and yet I am already hurting his fragile self._**

**_Damn me and my inability to stop hurting the ones I love._**

**_Shit, this makes me feel for Sami and Jessicka._**

**_Well, here is this chapter._**

**_Hope you enjoy._**


End file.
